Ealing is predominantly a residential borough, housing people who work in central London and around Heathrow. There are, however, important employment areas in the Ealing, Southall, Acton, Greenford and Northolt town centres and in the areas of mixed business activity in Park Royal, Acton Vale, Southall, Perivale, Greenford and Northolt. The borough is also characterised by extensive areas of green space and a prolific number of trees.
Planning / Development policy must, therefore, focus on enhancing the green space and residential environment, conserving buildings and areas of distinctive character and quality, and adapting the business areas to at least retain existing levels of local employment.
We believe that standards of residential development must take full account of the need for sustainability and of the desire to retain a high proportion of families with children in the borough. This means encouraging the improvement of existing houses to give them a longer life and reduced environmental impact and generally resisting the sub-division of houses with less than eight rooms.
Within walking distance of tube and train stations, we favour increased housing densities, for example via high quality blocks of flats. Further away, if any windfall sites suitable for housing become available, we prefer moderate densities with off-street parking provision.
We will vigorously protect all the remaining open space in the borough. We will actively seek to considerably improve the quality of major open spaces in the Brent River Park and Horsenden Hill and the network of town and district parks, local leisure gardens, nature reserves and children’s play spaces. A special priority will be to bring the Warren Farm Sports Grounds back into use and to provide adventure playgrounds for teenagers.
We will support initiatives such as those in Southfield Park to use our green spaces to increase biodiversity and support natural flora and fauna.
We support the development of Ealing Town Centre and West Ealing, however we feel that redevelopment should include areas such as Hanwell, Southall and Greenford. These areas (and perhaps West Ealing as well) will lose out because of the increased trade within the Broadway area, some pulled from Hanwell and Southall.
Any development must focus on more pedestrianisation, to give people greater freedom and safety — to shop and enjoy neighbouring open spaces. We must also make sure that cycling issues are adequately taken up within the Ealing Partnership.
Car parking must be restricted to a limited degree, to promote travel into Ealing by more sustainable methods. An adequate number of residential properties should be prioritised for nurses, doctors, policemen/women etc.
The development will need to make sure that there are adequate plans for traffic to be able to go North-South and conversely East-West (for those wanting to avoid the retail areas). As no firm plans for road building exist it would make sense to make sure that residents are fully informed about the plans as ideas arise.
We will further pursue efforts to improve the quality of the network of town centres in the borough, concentrating development where public transport is best available. In particular we will support the work of the town centre partnerships which have been established, and vigorously resist out-of-town shopping developments.
We will continue the enhancement of Southall town centre, the resuscitation of Acton, Greenford and Hanwell and give special priority to the substantial upgrading of Northolt town centre.
All town centre initiatives will be related to supporting major improvements to public transport (especially interchange facilities) and to the availability of off-street car parking. Raising the physical quality of the centres will be central to all this, and we will introduce a modern design guide, a vigorous review and upgrading of lighting and street furniture, the pedestrianisation of suitable streets and a much stronger anti-graffiti policy. Each centre will also have fully staffed public lavatories open all day.
Throughout the borough we will exercise strong control over advertising - rejecting obtrusive hoardings along main roads and free standing advertisement pillars that impede pedestrians, particularly the disabled.
Ealing has an inheritance of twentieth century industrial areas, often unattractive to modern businesses. We will vigorously pursue policies to improve their general environment, access by public transport, off-street parking provision and quality of architecture. Our aim will be to attract activities expected to grow in the twenty-first century - especially the media, IT and biotechnology sectors related to the national nexus of research and innovation in inner London.
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Published by Martin Tod on behalf of Ealing Liberal Democrats all at 23 Fairlawn Court, Acton Lane, London W4 5EE. Printed and hosted by freenetname, 113 - 123 Upper Richmond Road, London SW15 2TL